An Easter Disciple eBook

With light feet the Jerusalem company, some six score
in number, made the journey north to Galilee.
One subject only was on their lips, as they followed
the road through Samaria to Kurn Hattin, near the
Sea of Tiberias. Here the Lord at the opening
of his mission had spoken his nine blessings to needy
mortals; most fitting it now was that on this memorable
hillside he should utter his farewell to those who
had come to believe on him. Thus would the circle
of his teachings end where it had begun. Bright
was the picture. The glint of the sunlight on
the Galilaean sea so near at hand, with the uncounted
flowers of the spring-time that covered the lower
plains, lent a charm to the scene that Quintus remembered
always.

At the outset the Roman convert is impressed with
the goodly number of those first disciples.
They are not twelve or six score, but many more.
They greet each other with the salutation, “Peace
be to you,” and then they rapturously add, “To-day
we shall see our Lord.” In that intimacy
which should always mark the followers of Christ,
they give Quintus their welcome; and at once he feels
himself among a congenial brotherhood.

One is by name Nicodemus, a member of the Great Sanhedrin.
Another is one Bartimaeus, from southern Jericho,
whose finger tips have been his eyes, till the Lord
has healed his blindness. A third has been a
demoniac among the hills of the Gergesenes, and has
been a wandering and truculent challenge to his times.
A woman is there from Jacob’s well, with Salome
and Susanna and the virgin mother herself. They
are from southern Bethlehem; they have come from the
wild hills of Peraea, beyond the Jordan; many are from
Galilee, where Christ has found so many devoted followers.
All these, as well as the immortal eleven who have
composed the inner circle of the Master’s associates.

Two other peculiar disciples does Quintus see, both
of whom have been raised from the dead. Lazarus
has come, who has so often welcomed the Lord to his
home in Bethany; and with him are the sisters, of
whom one has heard the Teacher say. “Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”
The other is a young vineyard keeper from the neighboring
village of Nain, whom Christ has restored. His
word to Quintus is:

“Last year I sickened with a fever and passed
through the door of death. They were carrying
me out for burial, and my widowed mother was weeping
as one weeps who has lost her only son. The Master
halted the mourners, and called me back to earth.
I have never told of the wonders which I saw in the
spirit world; it would not be lawful. But I
have been in the great spaces beyond the stars, and
know that the tomb is only a resting place for a little
sleep.”

“How many disciples are there here?” Quintus
asks of the good John. To which question the
other answers:

“Over a half thousand. It has been our
Master’s wish that every disciple of his throughout
the land should come to this meeting place.
Unto all he would show himself once more, before he
returns to the upper life. So they shall have
a glad memory of his face, and shall be strengthened
in their coming tribulations by the hope of immortality.”